Last Kiss
by miawweasley
Summary: A Mileven one shot inspired by the song Last Kiss by Pearl Jam.


Mike looked over to the passenger seat, admiring his beautiful girlfriend who was staring right back at him. She giggled when his chocolate brown orbs locked with her hazel ones, feeling a rush of warmth and love surge through her, and he couldn't help but recreate the sound.

"You're so beautiful."

No matter how many times he said it, she could never fight down the blush that rose to her cheeks when the words leaked from his lips. She bit her lip and smiled wider, the same warm feeling flowing through her once more.

"You're not so bad yourself," she responded nodding her head towards the road to remind him to look as he chuckled at her.

"Yeah, right," he said, following her orders and watching the road, sneaking small glances at her until he caught her furrowed eyebrows and slightly stuck out bottom lip.

"Give yourself more credit," El huffed, displaying her annoyance on her facial features. Mike laughed, and her eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

"I'm teasing, darling," Mike said, and she looked relieved after he said that. "Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because you are the cutest, adorablest, beautifulest, most precious boyfriend on this planet," she said in a tone that seemed to be calling him stupid, and he found himself waiting for the 'duh' to escape her lips after she said that. A hearty laugh escaped his throat and he looked over at El who was still staring at him lovingly, soft eyes and all.

"Is adorablest a word?" he asked, raising a brow in a teasing manner.

"Uh, it totally is."

"Right," he said mockingly, and she gasped dramatically before hitting his arm playfully, pulling a laugh out of him.

"I had fun tonight," she said after a few moments of comfortable silence. "It's been a while since we've gone a real date. I'm happy your dad let you borrow the car."

Mike nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Mike glanced back at the road and found it empty, so he sped up a bit, El giggling in the seat next to him as he did so. He enjoyed her laugh so he pressed on the gas a little more, more laughter coming from the brunette in the passenger seat. It made him laugh, too, and this time he couldn't keep himself from looking at her. She looked right back, and neither of them felt the need to pay attention to the road.

When El finally pulled her gaze from his, she was the first to look back at road. Mike, still wrapped up in the beautiful sight of his girlfriend, noticed the slight widening of her eyes. Mike snapped his head in the direction of her widened gaze and saw what she say.

A red car. It was stalled, the car stopped right in the middle of the lane they were in as well. The paint of the car was chipped slightly and no one was standing around it, meaning the owner of the vehicle was still inside.

His expression mirrored hers, widened eyes, parted lips. Fear crept up on him like a lion on its prey.

The car was going too fast. He couldn't stop, so, acting on impulse and his guts, he swerved to the right to prevent their car from colliding with the other one.

A scream erupted from El's throat, followed by shattering glass, the flipping of their car causing both their stomachs to drop.

Her scream echoed in his ears, and it was the only thing Mike remembered hearing before everything faded to black.

He stayed there, unconscious until the gasps of strangers as they voiced their concerns lulled him from the dark void of nothingness a few minutes later.

He placed his palms out in front of him, pushing himself up from the ground, ignoring the dizziness in his head and the aching protest of the rest of his body.

His first thought, of course, was El. He whipped his head around scanning the area until he spotted his car — his dad's car — a few feet away, El's crying body next to it.

"No, no, no..."

Her body shook as she shivered in pain, blood splattered across her face that reminded him of the time she almost died in Starcourt. The same feeling came over him (dread, angst?) and he sunk to his knees once more, still muttering the same two letter word over and over again.

"No, no, no, El, no!"

People were still asking if he was all right but the pain in his body seemed to disappear once he saw the love of his life in a bloody heap on the concrete.

"Baby, baby, no," he muttered, sinking to his knees next to her body.

"M-mike," she whispered, tears spilling out of her eyes. "It hurts."

"I know, I know it does. Just hang on, okay? Help is coming, baby, just hang on."

He didn't know who he was reassuring, not really. The words were meant for El but he found himself gripping onto the words that left his lips like he was gripping onto her hand.

His free hand slipped around the back of her head, using the pad of his thumb to stroke her pecan-colored locks softly. "You're going to be okay."

"I won't be, Mike."

Her words were more forceful than the crash. She was going to be okay, that's what Mike was counting on. She was the light of his life, the love of his life and he didn't want to view her fate as anything other than spending the rest of her life with him.

"No, you'll be fine," he said, shaking her head and squeezing her hand tighter.

"Mike..."

"No, you're going to be okay! Please-"

"Mike, I'm dying."

He didn't realize there were tears in his eyes until the drops came pouring out of them, streaming down his cheeks like a river.

"Hold me, darling. Just- just a little while?" she asked, a pleading look in her eyes as her bottom lip quivered.

He brought her to his chest, his aching chest, tears landing on her bloodstained shirt as he cradled her close.

"I can't lose you again. You promised I wouldn't lose you again."

"Not all promises can be kept, I guess," she said, trying to lighten the mood with a small joke as the pain within her slowly started to drift away, tiredness taking over her, but the only thing it succeeded in was making him cry even harder.

"Please."

She brought his head down, her hand shaking in pain as she did so, but it was worth it when she pulled him to kiss her their last kiss. She whimpered against the chapped surface his lips, realizing she would never experience this again. He seemed to realize it, too, as more of his tears dripped down onto her bloody face.

He pulled away and buried his face in the crook of her neck, and a few more droplets of tears escaped her eyes when she felt warmth overcome her, the pain no longer present.

"I love you," she whispered.

El had always known that when she passed, when her time had come, she would want Mike to know that she loved him. That's what her last words would be. She wanted him to carry that with him his entire life, carry her love with him his entire life because she knew if something were to happen to him she would never, ever let go of the, pure, achingly pure love that she had for him. That she will always have with her.

Even in death, the love she had for him clouded her senses and took away her pain.

"I love you too," she heard him whisper, and she closed her eyes and allowed herself to let go.

Mike had never cried harder in his life. He was pretty sure he could hear his heart breaking, splitting in two, and he wondered if that would be it for him.

If he would die of a broken heart.

A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders, and he didn't need to look up to recognize the rough yet familiar feel of Lucas' hands. He met his best friend's eyes and it only made him cry harder and latch onto El's body tighter

"Mike, come on," Lucas said, voice crack and all. He was trying to be tough for him, Mike could tell, but that only made him cry harder. His body was weak and it was easy for Lucas to pry him away from the now dead body of El.

"El!" he shouted, fighting against Lucas as paramedics swarmed in and covered El's limp body with a bag, her face disappearing from his view.

Tears continued streaming out of his eyes when he saw Max crying in Dustin's arms, and he finally stopped struggling and allowed Lucas to lead him to the car that they all shuffled in to.

When they were all packed in Mike found himself wondering who was going to have to sit on whose lap so they could all fit in the car, but that thought was squashed like a bug when he realized there was only five of them left now.

He cried even harder, a loud sob erupting from his throat that startled all of them.

No one said anything, no one did anything, no one moved.

They sat there, grieving in the hushed silence of the car with the exception of Mike's sobs and the occasional sniffles coming from the rest of them.

Mike looked up to the ceiling of the car, knowing El was somewhere else now. Somewhere good. And in that moment, he made a promise to himself. A promise to be the best version of himself so that one day he could see her again, join her in the paradise.

Mike brought a hand to his face, his index finger brushing over his lips.

There was one thing on his mind as he traced random patterns across the chapped skin:

Their last kiss.


End file.
